Surviving Athens Twilight

SPEED WEEK RACE #1

USA Crits Series kicks off with a race like no other, Athens Twilight. The first Athens Twilight race took place in 1980, no wonder everyone in town knows about this event! The most exciting aspect of racing in Athens is without a doubt the crowds. Unlike other USA Crits races, the course in Athens is lined entirely with metal barricades on both sides of the road. And for good reason, to keep the riders safe from the 30,000 college kids from the University of GA, happy Terrapin drinking rednecks and other bicycle racing enthusiasts that surround every inch of the course.

Photo Credit: Dave Gill/USA CRITS

The pro women's race started at 7:45pm and there was actually quite a lot of daylight still. To my surprise I received a call up, which means I was introduced to the crowds before the race and given a spot in front of the field at the line. After a brief marriage proposal (yes some guy proposed to his girlfriend who was racing) we were off. Even with my call up I'm still struggling to maintain a good position in the field, but I stayed calm, got comfortable and moved up when I could. Constantly moving up into a better position uses a LOT of energy, but my legs were feeling good and I was way less anxious/nervous than I was in Delray and Tampa. The race was fast but unlike Delray I wasn't thinking, "oh my god I'm going to die" and the little hill on the backside wasn't hurting me at all. The race was going well for me. Then coming out of turn 4, with about 14 laps to go I crashed. Although you can see me crash on the video it's not clear what happened. Maybe a bump in the road hit at the wrong angle or clipped a pedal. I got up, did a quick assessment of myself and my bike. I seemed to be in one piece but my bars and front wheel were facing opposite directions so I threw my bike over my shoulder cyclocross style and got to the SRAM pit as fast as I could. The guys in red got me put back together and pushed me back into the race with 11 laps to go. I was a little rattled and bloody but luckily it was from just a few small scratches. I took a lap or two to mentally pull myself back together knowing the pace would start to pick up since we were down to single digit laps and the field was still together. Just as I was feeling comfortable again, with about 3 to go there was a nasty crash into the barricade at turn 1, which because I was hanging so far back I was able to witness and get around. That crash left less than 20 riders in the front group, me included. Then on the next lap I saw one rider go flying through the air. WTF! I was still upright but a little startled. The race finished with a field sprint, with Tina Pic taking the W for the second time, her first win in Athens was in 2004! I rolled across the line finishing 16th and happy to have survived my first Athens Twilight.

Photo Credit: Dave Gill/USA CRITS